BOSTON (CBS) – Massachusetts is increasing its coronavirus vaccination program subsequent week. Beginning Monday, residents and employees at 3,500 congregate care websites within the state together with prisons, group properties and shelters will start to get the vaccines.
“We’ve made sufficient progress with our frontline well being care staff and long run care residents that we’re prepared to begin inoculating the following group of residents,” Gov. Charlie Baker mentioned at a information convention Wednesday. “These amenities are prioritized as a result of they serve susceptible populations in densely populated settings.”
There are about 6,500 inmates and 4,500 employees at Division of Corrections amenities, Baker mentioned, and it’ll take about three weeks to manage the Moderna vaccines there on a voluntary foundation.
“Workers are additionally excessive danger for publicity at these amenities, and lots of of them do superb work, and it’s essential that they’re vaccinated to guard themselves and their households,” he mentioned.
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Different congregate settings slated for vaccinations subsequent week embody residential care and remedy packages, group based mostly acute residential remedy packages, medical stabilization packages, homeless shelters, home violence shelters, veteran shelters and accepted personal particular schooling faculties.
Thus far, greater than 239,000 vaccinations have been administered in Massachusetts to well being care care staff, these at long-term care amenities and first responders.
“Our administration is working across the clock to ramp up this distribution course of, and to ensure we now have the infrastructure in place to manage these vaccines as they arrive to us,” Baker mentioned.
